“Strip the citizenship of Malaysians who support Israel,” cried out a columnist from Berita Harian.
If a Malaysian were to support another country against Malaysia, then yes—one could make the argument that their loyalty is questionable, and perhaps their citizenship should indeed be reconsidered.
But what if a Malaysian supports a foreign country against another foreign country? Or simply refuses to support the country that you support? What does that have to do with their loyalty to Malaysia?
Apparently, to this Berita Harian columnist, it has everything to do with it. Not only that—you should be stripped of your citizenship simply because you don’t support the country they identify with.
“Worse still, some openly side with Israel, even as that regime commits genocide and war crimes in Gaza. Such people are like snakes hidden in our mats—their venom will eventually destroy our moral fabric. These ‘forked tongues’ who side with oppressors should have their citizenship revoked,” the Berita Harian columnist who writes under the pen name Belalang demanded.
What the columnist was seeking is in fact, a classic example of how identity politics works.
If you identify with a certain group—as the Berita Harian columnist identifies with the Palestinians—then any offense against that group - or the Palestinians, in this case - will be taken personally, as if it is an offense against yourself.
If you see yourself as one with the Palestinians, then those who attack the Palestinians—like the Israelis—while become your enemies.
And once you see the Israelis as your enemies, you will naturally begin to see anyone who supports Israel, or even refuses to condemn Israel, as your enemy too.
And if the person who refuses to condemn Israel or supports Israel happens to be a fellow Malaysian, then your identification with the Palestinians might so overwhelm you, that you will even be willing to disown you shared national identity with your fellow Malaysian.
Instead of seeing them as fellow citizens, you will begin to see them as traitors— although they have done nothing against your country or you - and believe that it is only fair that these “traitors” deserve to have their citizenship stripped.
That’s how identity eclipses nationality.
The Berita Harian columnist’s piece reflects this perfectly. He or she praised the moral “victory” of the Global Sumud Flotilla mission to Gaza, condemned Malaysians who mocked it, and went so far as to call for revoking the citizenship of anyone sympathetic to Israel.
In his or her view, neutrality or dissent is not just a difference of opinion—it is treason against the moral cause he or she identifies with.
And this is the real danger: when your sense of belonging is built on who you hate or who you side with in someone else’s conflict, your loyalty no longer lies with your country, but with your chosen identity.
When that happens, Malaysia stops being a shared home and becomes a moral battlefield. Those who think differently are no longer neighbors, but enemies.
That is how societies fracture—not from without, but from within.
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